In the Still of the Night the Holy Spirit called to me.

In the Still of the Night the Holy Spirit called to me.

A time of expiation for the Church Penitent that are waiting for us to relieve them through prayer.  We may discover that it isn’t just rosaries or spoken words to God alone, it can be found through our giftedness that pleases God when our intentions reach into Purgatory and those who long for release from their cleansing.  

There are many who do not accept Purgatory with the thought of those who are being punished for their sins.  It is unfortunate that so many do not understand the generosity of God or have an idea that God can’t wait for us to fail and then he’ll say, “now I got you and you’ll be sorry.”  Of course sorrow is the primary requirement when we confess our sins, but we are assured that God isn’t a watchman waiting to strike us down.  Wouldn’t  they be surprised that God is waiting on our answer for his mercy and how quickly the divine Love of God picks us up and dries our tears as he did with the Prodigal Son.  (Lk 14: 11 - 32).

What a terrible scenario that lurks in the minds of too many good meaning people who have grown up with the thought of a God who can’t wait to catch us in a failure of sin.  There is one who does, however, wait until we fall through weakness and then tells us, “Aha, now you’ve done it, and do you think God is going to forget what you’ve done?”  Well, once we turn and seek his forgiveness, God actually does forget the sin.  (see Psalm 103: 12)  As far as the east is from the west, so far have our sins been removed from us).  

Fire and brimstone, the attributes of so many ministers of years past, that thought their scaring people into submission for fear of going to hell for every sin we commit lost a lot of people away from true contrition.  Yes hell does exist, but the premise of finding a loving Father like with the Prodigal son probably floored the scribes and Pharisees when Jesus presented this parable.  But if any of us think that it doesn’t hold the truth about God’s mercy, you better pick up the bible and read the many exclamations from Jesus regarding his Father’s deep and warm love for sinners.  This was the prime reason for his Incarnation.  It is another truth regarding the words of the Exultet:  “O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer.”   Without these words of eternal comfort we would not have been forgiven.

Every soul in Purgatory already is forgiven, and they are in the state of grace.  Like steel is placed in intense heat, fire if you will, until the dross is burned off.  In the large vats of the steel mills the metal is electrocuted with around 25,000 volts of three-phase power (shorted out) until the steel is pure.  That is what purging is about, without electrical power, but the end result is the same.  Purified steel is ready for its assigned purpose and the pure soul is now spiritually perfect.  Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Mt 5: 48).   

Ralph B. Hathaway